Marketing Your Business, Old School -vs- Internet Marketing

Basically, marketing is the presentation of a product to a potential customer. When you can get people thinking and talking about your product, you have a successful marketing campaign.

At one point in my career, during the 1970's, I was a 'shoe dog'. I sold shoes in a posh, upscale mens and womens clothing store. The owner ran weekly advertisements in the local paper, radio ads, the store was listed in both the white and yellow pages in the phone book and the sales staff was trained to maximize the sale once a potential customer walked into the store. Obviously, one of our marketing techniques involved the display of shoes in a pleasing manner. After we welcomed the client into the store and let them know we were available to help, we gave them breathing room. When a client showed interest in a certain shoe, we brought them a couple pairs, similar in color and style, we educated the customers on the benefits of one brand of shoe versus another, we invited the customer to try on the shoes, and finally we offered other products to enhance the shoes (handbags, shoe polish, shoe trees, etc). Also, the sales people had a card file list of customers, their shoe size, their preferences and their contact information. We were encouraged to make personal contact with these customers, offer a special order option, promotion or the arrival of new stock.

How many marketing techniques do you see that were used in the promotion of this shoe store? Lets see...location, visual presentation, show & suggest, education, customer service, and direct marketing. These "old school" techniques are still an important part of business promotions and marketing campaigns today, in the 21st century.

Since that time I have marketed many products; tailoring and fashion design services, clothing and fashion jewelry stores, human resource services, and home repair services. Until recently, all of these "old school" marketing campaigns have resulted in a measurable increase in sales activity.

In August of 2007 I experienced my first business marketing failure. I spent (or wasted) ten weeks on a marketing campaign to promote our family construction business. I used the "old school" method called 'direct marketing'. In other words, over the course of those ten weeks, I contacted my target market of potential customers: property managers, architects, interior designers, etc. I made about 2000 telephone contacts that I followed up with a mailed or faxed flier. Also, I made 50 on-site sales calls and I kept a 'tickler file' for serious leads and followed up on them weekly. My phone bill and postage cost tripled, and, I now have a very extensive marketing file, but, in the end, this marketing campaign failed! NO NEW BUSINESS!

At that point I started searching the internet for solutions. I already had a web site, but I wasn't getting any traffic to it. Almost every set of key words I typed into the browser sent me to a couple of websites for Contractor Referral Services. This was a new concept for me so I decided to try it. In other words, I paid for internet generated leads, about two to three a day. Unfortunately, most of those leads were from home owners simply researching the possibility of hiring a contractor. Still, I paid for those leads whether or not they were legitimate. However, the concept of generating leads on the internet was exciting, so I began the research process to understand why my existing web site was not getting any traffic.

I learned a whole new set of terms: Key words, Adwords, Adsense, Article marketing, Email marketing, Online blogs, Forums, back-end links...etc. All of these terms relate to the process of getting traffic to your web site. There are free articles all over the internet that explain what each of these terms mean and how to implement them into your marketing program.

In the process, I've paid for 'list' services to access OnLine Surveys and OnLine Data Entry Jobs. I've also paid for affiliate marketing training programs and turn-key affiliate web sites. Some of these products are scams, some of them are real legitimate businesses. What I have learned is; There is money to be made on the internet, however, you must apply yourself to the process and you must give yourself some time for the 'learning curve. My best advise to avoid scams; 'google' the product name, followed by 'scam', and check online for a Better Business Bureau report.

Marketing on the internet is here and it is here to stay. More and more, the internet is the place people go to for information, news, social contact and entertainment. In light of this fact, internet marketing should be one of the tools businesses use to market their product.

My advise to small business owners is: Along side all of the "old school" marketing techniques, make internet marketing part of your next marketing campaign.

Lynn Albro